icy and cold and incredibly beautiful

I can hardly believe I get to live here!

And this is what I've been up to in this cold and snowy new year. (besides staying tucked in my cozy little nest in this cute little yellow house with heat bags, hot drinks and my computer...)

And it hasn't been all sunshine - there's been lots and lots and lots of snow!

A belated Birthday celebration for Barb was just lovely.
I managed to get her a gift that she loved which made me insanely happy.
Really.  Because I'm not the best at finding "just the right gift" for people very often.

I took Oma, Tante Hilda, and Sara for a sunny scenic winter's drive and it was absolutely delightful.  We sang hymns, exclaimed over the rapturous beauty, laughed and ate a McDonald's picnic at the lakeside.  I wish i had a picture of that but unfortunately I left my camera at home.  The lake was gorgeous!!

Driving to school and other places has been crazy and wonderful and beautiful and sometimes scary.  Seriously snowy and cold this January.  I literally slid down a hill one morning on the way to church with the dear daughter, but thankfully I didn't hit any of the cars that were pulled over (or crashed) along the side of the road.

And soon we'll be having picnics at this very table, under the warm summer sun!

CRAZY CRAZY WORLD

Sometimes it just blows my mind,
This rapid progression and expansion of knowledge and technology and the vast array of devices available to the common man...
How is it that I can carry a computer around and it fits in the PALM OF MY HAND?  I can talk to someone on the other side of the world face to face on this thing??  I can access information with great immediacy, more than I can ever think of using.

Complicated, amazing cameras are commonplace while photographers abound.
What was so recently amazing (in my world, anyways!) and unbelievable becomes obsolete and archaic while I haven't even figured out all the settings on it yet.

I can read intimate details of peoples lives and see pictures of their families,
people that I've never met and probably never will this side of heaven.
Like a soap opera their lives unfold and I can get lost in the details of other's lives,
without tending carefully enough to the details of my own.

I don't know how I really feel about it all.
Addicted to the ease and marvelousness of it all and freaked out when I stop long enough to contemplate where it is all leading all of us.

Of course, the inevitable statement echoes in my mind,
"this can be used for great evil and great good..."
But sometimes it feels as if  lesser evils and lesser good might be safer.

So, tend to your little garden dear girl.
Set down the devices.
Silence the hum.
Close your eyes.
Listen for that still small voice.

Be still and know that HE IS GOD.

Bring it in with BINGO!

We've closed the door on 2012.

It was a great year

And it ended well.

Loads of snow and cold outside.

A warm cozy home full of love

Friends to celebrate and laugh with.

My kids all around me, my heart full.

 Tradition required a rousing game of bingo complete with some extra special prizes causing much hooting and clapping and excitement to abound!

These wild, wooly and wonderful friends are some of my very favorite people to bring the New Year in with...

And to top off this extraordinary night of celebration and joy, the new year found me at the hospital - checking in on my dear mama who had fainted and was receiving most excellent care for a flu that had hounded her all through the holidays.  Grateful to see her well attended, hydrated and all content and cheerful, as usual.  

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And now I am quieting my heart,

Committing this New Year to Jesus.  

Asking Him to direct my steps

Breath and live and love through me.

For this I need revelation.

I need it like I need fresh water and food and air.

Revelation to know and understand and ultimately revel and dance and swim in the knowledge that I AM MY BELOVED'S AND HE IS MINE.

Oh Jesus please.  

Hear my cry and come and nourish my heart. 

Help me to finally forgive and release and bless so I can move on in freedom and life and love.